Tuesday, August 31, 2010

...the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot spoke about Israel’s economic-civilian policy toward the Gaza Strip and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip over time.

“Israel tried the entire time to not harm but the civilian and humanitarian activities for the sake of the citizens of the Gaza Strip, even when Hamas came to power. To our dismay the body responsible for forcing the situation whereby we were obliged to change our policy is not Israel nor the IDF, but Hamas,” he testified.

...Maj. Gen. Dangot presented a summary with data of humanitarian aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip on a daily basis carrying food and equipment, from 2006 and until today. Based on the data, in the first four years there was a constant flow of 60-70 trucks with equipment entering the Gaza Strip every day...

“There is a direct connection between the number of rockets fired toward Israel and our ability to operate the crossings,” he said. “If in the year 2006 we continued to see an average of 80 rockets per month, we could have entered much more equipment into the Gaza Strip. But when the average number of rockets shot up in 2007 to 215 and later 288 rockets per month, the amount of equipment entering into the Gaza Strip decreased, reaching its lowest point in 2008 when 400 rockets were fired. Still, it is important to see that quantities of food entering the Gaza Strip show no significant changes and we have continued entering amounts according to Palestinian needs.”

This is a bit different from the report I heard over Channel One TV which claimed as the main lead that Dangot asserted there is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

He spoke of "external players events" and that there are "actors trying to influence sabotage the [peace] process".

Sir, PJ, they are not external players - they are the players. They are the most internal of players. If anything, you and Hillary and President Obama are the outsiders.

And the terror is the process. Terror has been the constant factor in the relationships between the Arab, who have never indicated a willingness to compromise and coexist and have always used terror from 1920 on.

The United States is deeply concerned by the recent poisonings of Afghan school children in Kabul. While details of these attacks are still being verified, Afghan schools, teachers, and students, particularly girls, are regularly targeted by anti-government elements seeking to destabilize Afghanistan and undermine progress. We condemn such attacks and are working with the Afghan government to address this important issue and prevent further incidents from occurring....We urge the international community to continue their support for the Government of Afghanistan in combating repression and violence against girls seeking an education, and in bringing to justice those responsible for these appalling attacks.

Our deepest sympathies are with the families of the victims, and we assure the government and all the people of Afghanistan that the United States will stand by you as you continue working to bring peace and stability to your country.

Assistant Secretary of State Phillip Crowley said the US was aware that "external events" could have an impact on the Washington peace summit. "We also are cognizant that there may well be actors in the region who are deliberately making these kinds of attacks in order to try to sabotage the process," he said.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, let me express our deepest sympathy to the families who have lost their loved ones. This kind of savage brutality has no place in any country, under any circumstances. The forces of terror and destruction cannot be allowed to continue. It is one of the reasons why the prime minister is here today: to engage in direct negotiations with those Palestinians who themselves have rejected a path of violence in favor of a path of peace. We have to not only stand against the kind of horrific murders we saw today on behalf of the four who were lost and, as the prime minister said, the seven orphans who have been brutally deprived of their parents, but on behalf of all people -- Israelis, Palestinians, everyone who knows that there is no answer when violence begets violence. And I thank the prime minister for his leadership in seeking a different future for the children of Israel. And we pledge to do all we can, always, to protect and defend the State of Israel and to provide security to the Israeli people. That is one of the paramount objectives that Israel has that the United States supports in these negotiations.

Ali Abunimah attacks America's position regarding a future peace between Israel and the Arabs of the former Palestine Mandate, one that rejects Hamas participation, writing "Why should Hamas or any Palestinian accept Israel’s political demands, like recognition, when Israel refuses to recognize basic Palestinian demands like the right of return for refugees?" ("Hamas, the I.R.A. and Us, Aug. 30). But the two elements cannot be compared.

Refugees, - and there are hundreds of thousands of Jews who also became refugees from Arab countries it cannot be ignored, - resulted from a war which began when Arabs rejected the UN Partition resolution in 1947 primarily because they refused to recognize the right of the state of Israel to be established. The cause of 'no peace' was, and continues to be, the unwillingness of Arabs to accept the existence of a sovereign Jewish national framework, in any territorial configuration. It is the Arab side that consistently rejects compromise. A cause and an effect cannot be on the same level when seeking a solution. Israel's existence is not a political "demand" over which to quibble.

I told the CPA who handled the 501 exemption for _____ a couple of years ago about Lori’s lawsuit. Today he sent me an email telling me that his office is working on a tax exemption for a major Jewish religious organization that holds prayer services and Torah classes where each center files for its own exemption. There is no mention of Israel in its application.

They rec’d a letter from the IRS with the following questions:

Does your organization support the existence of the land of Israel? Describe your organization’s belief system toward the land of Israel.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Both archaeologists and tourists say that the Jordanians have done a terrible job. The Jordanians may have reinforced the walls, but the unsightly appearance of the new sections of wall, where the bulges had been, is entirely out of keeping with the ancient ashlars. No effort was made to blend in the new wall sections with the old walls. The new sections bear all the marks—color, smooth surface and size—of new work. Perhaps the hanging scaffolds are justified as conforming to the ugliness of the new sections of wall. They’ve been there now for several years. How much longer?

And since we're looking at the Temple Mount, try this 2000 year old view:

Lisa Goldman, in a post, mentioned the clip my wife and I appear in and wrote:

The ‘learn to shoot’ slogan appears under a video interview with two American-born residents of Shilo, a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank; the video is embedded in an article titled, “Human face of demonized ‘settlers’.” In the video, the two speak of their love for Shilo, their biblical connection to the place and the affection they feel for their neighbours – although they do not specify whether they are speaking of their Jewish neighbours within the settlement, or their Palestinian neighbours. The interview was filmed by a visiting American couple who told Arutz 7 that they sought “…to make the Jews who live in Judea and Samaria look human….because they are usually so demonized by the media.”

I left a comment but it hasn't appeared.

Sometimes, liberals/progressives/humanists have to deliberate a lot before they allow certain people to exercise certain rights like freedom of expression.

Anyway, I left another comment, a bit more neutrally worded:

You write of our video clip concerning "the affection they feel for their neighbours – although they do not specify whether they are speaking of their Jewish neighbours within the settlement, or their Palestinian neighbours."

Well, the answer is our own Jewish neighbors. To be truthful, it is difficult to relate to Arab neighbors who either stone us, shoot at us, throw firebombs or burn our fields. One close Arab neighbor was taken to Shchem twice and tortured for being too friendly with us.

The secular Zionist dream was fundamentally democratic. Its proponents, from Theodor Herzl to David Ben-Gurion, sought to apply the universal right of self-determination to the Jews, to set them free individually and collectively as a nation within a democratic state.

Of course, when Herzl was forced to renounce the "Uganda" option (actually it was territory in Kenya), he did it not because of self-determination but the concept of Zion and raised his hand to swear by the Psalmist.

He continues:

This dream is now seriously threatened by the religious settlers’ movement, Orthodox Jews whose theological version of Zionism is radically different. Although these religious settlers are relatively few — around 130,000 of the total half-a-million settlers — their actions could spell the end of the Israel we have known.

The roots of the problem have been there from the birth of modern Zionism. The relations between Herzl’s movement and Jewish Orthodoxy were uneasy from the start.

Our return to the land of our fathers, foretold by Holy Writ...the Promised Land must first be conquered. But let these poor people see that they are already at home...The noted God-given charm of Palestine lay unseen and forgotten for long centuries. Where in the world will you find a country where the springtime is so accessible at all times of the year? Palestine has warm, temperate and cool zones which lie not far apart from each other. God has blessed our land.

Taub continues:

Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, later focused his father’s theological ideas around a single commandment: to settle all the land promised to the ancient Hebrews in the Bible. His disciples, energized by a burning messianic fervor, took Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War of 1967 as confirmation of this theology and set out to fulfill its commandment. Religious enthusiasm made the movement subversive in a deep sense — adherents believed they had a divine obligation to build settlements and considered the authority of Israel’s democratic government conditional on its acceptance of what they declared to be God’s politics.

Although religious settlers often describe themselves as heirs of the early Zionist pioneers, they are anything but. Herzl’s vision was about liberating people, while theirs is about achieving a mystical reunion between the people of Israel and the land of Israel...

Well, yes, there are differences and we need to ask ourselves, if Herzl were alive today and had been witness to the Arab riots of 1929, 1936-39; the War of Independence; the fedayeen; the PLO; etc. and et al., would he be "Herzlian" or somewhat closer to Gush Emunim? Closer to God or closer to Gadi?

Taub's last try at turning Zionism on its head:

The religious settlement movement is not just secular Zionism’s ideological adversary, it is a danger to its very existence. Terrorism is a hazard, but it cannot destroy Herzl’s Zionist vision. More settlements and continued occupation can.

People who actually kill Jews, people who subvert Israel's legitimacy, who practice boycott, and a host of other indelicacies are not as bad as religious nationalists.

...The captured patrol from the Royal Irish Regiment originally numbered 12 – 11 British soldiers plus their local Sierra Leone liaison officer – and negotiators had succeeded in securing the freedom of five Britons.

...But what the hidden troopers heard and saw from the secret observation post changed everything. West Side Boys gunmen were inflicting a violent sexual assault on at least one of the ­British prisoners. ‘That was the point when the decision was taken to go in and get them out,’ a British special forces source said.

...At dawn on September 10, 2000, Gberi Bana was assaulted by D Squadron from the SAS while, a mile away on the opposite, southern bank of the Rokel river, a company of Paras launched an infantry attack on two other villages called Magbeni and Forodugu to suppress any threat of a counter­attack from rebels based there.

All seven prisoners were rescued at the cost of one British fatality, Brad Tinnion from the SAS...

...During research for my new book, Chasing The Devil: The Search For Africa’s Fighting Spirit, it became clear that Barras involved a second, more controversial component: the complete destruction of the West Side Boys as a fighting force.

While the hostages were flown to freedom by helicopter within 30 minutes, British forces stayed on the ground around Gberi Bana for four more hours, hunting down and engaging the rebels. No quarter was given.

At least 200 enemy combatants were killed during and after the rescue, including several women and children...There is no suggestion any rebels were executed and it appears all fatalities occurred in combat. During the country’s civil war, it was common for women and children to take part in fighting.

...Faced with many bodies, the decision was taken to conceal the number of enemy fatalities by dis­posing of some of them.

Two Sierra Leone witnesses said ­bodies were flown out of the village by Chin­ook helicopter, the same aircraft that delivered the assault force. One witness said he saw at least two bodies being dropped in the Rokel while the other described the floor of the helicopter fuselage running red with blood.

A British special forces source said: ‘They were dropped in the river, dropped across the jungle, and some buried in mass graves. It was just not politically acceptable to have so many dead after a rescue operation. It did not sit well with New Labour’s sup­posedly ethical foreign policy.’

...The brigadier then in command of British forces, David Richards – now a full general and recently appointed as Chief of the Defence Staff – boldly used his troops not just to rescue British passport-holders but to reinforce and revitalise the Sierra Leone army. A British-led military training mission continues in the country today.

...‘The SAS carry out robust oper­ations all the time, no more so than in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what stands out about Barras is that the rules of engagement were freer than perhaps any other operation in recent times,’ the special forces source said. ‘Basically, it was a free-fire zone.’

...Only one official statement was issued by the Ministry of Defence on the operation – one that made no mention of the SAS involvement, in line with official policy of offering no comment on British special forces...After donning surgical gloves, some of the British soldiers dragged the corpses and arranged them in lines.

The area was sufficiently safe for the troopers to take photographs of each other, which I have seen but promised not to reproduce for ­security reasons. [reminds you of Eden Abergil, no?]

One photograph is arranged like a grisly hunting souvenir with a dozen British soldiers, helmets removed, faces streaked with camouflage cream, posing with their weapons in front of a long line of dead rebels lying on a patch of bare earth near a house in Gberi Bana.

...By mid-2000, the West Side Boys had become the most serious obstacle to peace. Unpredictable and violent, they preyed on civilian traffic [Deir Yassin overlooked the main Jerusalem-Coast highway] using the main highway linking Freetown to the rest of the coun­try, raping women, stealing property and murdering innocent travellers.

...Barras was much more than a ­rescue operation, but for political reasons it has taken ten years for the story to be told of how the SAS hastened the ending of the civil war.

Mr. Obama, administration officials said, will call on the four leaders to do all they can to settle, within a year, the final status issues: the fate of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state, the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled their homes and the issue of Israeli security.

But on Sept. 26, Israel’s 10-month moratorium on settlement construction will expire. Mr. Netanyahu appears unlikely to extend it, Israeli and American officials said. And Mr. Abbas has said that he will withdraw from negotiations if settlement activity resumes.

“This becomes the first test of the intentions of the two sides, a test of whether they’re serious,” said Martin S. Indyk, the former American ambassador to Israel and Middle East peace negotiator.

If Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas stick to hard-line positions, the peace process will be dead just after this attempt is born, Mr. Indyk and other Middle East experts said. But if they are able to come up with a way around the Sept. 26 moratorium hurdle, “they will have created a more positive environment” for tackling the big issues, Mr. Indyk said.

Or put more simply, they will have shown the world that this time, they mean business.

Well, let me phrase it this way:

Continuation of a construction moratorium means less Jews in Judea and Samaria. It is predicated on the Arab viewpoint that we shouldn't be here at all. The precedent is the peace with Egypt which left no Jew in Sinai anywhere as well as the Gaza Disengagement which arrived at the same situation: territory of the Land of Israel that is Jundenrein.

Israel does not demand the removal of any Arab settlement in the state of Israel.

Thus, the issue of "settlements" is artificial on the one hand and on the other, racial discrimination at the least. It also ignores the historic connection between the Jewish people and its homeland, internationally recognized, as well as basic security needs.

That simply will not do.

To expect Israel to yield on a Jewish presence in its homeland is poor reasoning or malicious intent.

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The next regional war will be a media war, head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate Abdul Nasser An-Najar said Thursday.

Speaking to Ma'an Radio Network, An-Najar said Palestinian journalists are now on the front line in fighting Israeli violations.

An-Najar discussed the widely reported "Zionist editing" courses launched in Jerusalem this week, which train participants on how to re-write Wikipedia entries. The online encyclopedia is a collaborative effort, which anyone can sign up to edit, and is one of the most popular websites on the internet.

Contentious entries on the site include the status of various illegal settlements, Jerusalem and Israeli policies in Gaza.

The Israeli groups behind the project told the British daily The Guardian that they wish to redress the balance of the site’s editing community, which they claim is dominated by pro-Palestinian activists.

An-Najar said PJS plans to set up counter editing groups, and asked the Palestinian Authority to support the effort.

"Do I enjoy being naked in the woods with people watching? No, not really. Your pride just goes out the window. It's quite cold in the woods in Bristol, so being a male, that was not beneficial. I didn't realise last year on the pilot how naked I was going to be - it seemed like every ten minutes they were like 'can you just take your pants off?' This year my agent drew up a nudity clause but I don't think that's been followed!"

You go completely naked then? They don't try to cover you up?

"You see my arse a lot and a lot of me cupping my balls. Because I'm playing a Jew and I'm not actually Jewish, I think [showing everything] would give it away. I'm not going to go that far for method!"

23 And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as forbidden; three years shall it be as forbidden unto you; it shall not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy, for giving praise unto the LORD. 25 But in the fifth year may ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you more richly the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God.

a ceremony in which the vineyard has its sanctity transferred in the fourth year so the crops can be used is performed.

And as the poster informs us, this Wednesday at 4 PM, you're invited to the vineyards of Shiloh to participate in the ceremony sponsored by Meshek Achiyah which produces olive oil and as well owns vineyards.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Associate Producer/Production Associate, ABC News: This is an entry level position for an energetic journalist , fluent Arabic speaker, interested inbreaking news and investigative reporting for a six months assignment at ABC News in New York . Searching for a highly organized, mature individual who can provide administrative, research and reporting back-up for the Chief of Investigative Projects.

When direct talks begin next week between Israelis and Palestinians, the fate of Jewish settlers in the West Bank – tens of thousands of them – will be a major issue in the negotiations. But the settlers themselves won’t be part of the discussion. Nor have American officials involved in the talks been willing to meet with them.

You’ve probably heard that the settlers are an obstacle to peace. That’s not exactly true. Their absentee role in the peace process is different. They’re opposed to an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians that would uproot a large number of settlers from their homes or would leave Israel with inadequate security, at least from their viewpoint.

Obstacles or not, they’ve become “the most stereotyped and demonized people in the world,” says Dani Dayyan, the leader of the Yesha settler council for the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and Gaza. Yet the settlers have a case. It’s neither incoherent nor unreasonable, but it’s politically unacceptable and thus off the table in the new talks.

The settlers insist, for starters, that their settlements aren’t located on “occupied” Palestinian territory. Rather, they live on “disputed” territory, claimed as a homeland by both Palestinians and Jews (some of whom don’t consider themselves Israelis). “This is my homeland,” Dayyan says. “How can you ‘occupy’ your homeland?”

And Israel has a “morally flawless” claim to the West Bank and other land it captured in the Six Day War in 1967, according to Dayyan. “We took what we thought was ours in a defensive war” against Arab countries, he says. “The rule that winner takes all was set by the Palestinians,” since they were prepared to claim any land seized in the war.

The settlers also point to the ancient past. “Jewish civilization and history come from Judea and Samaria,” Dayyan says. “Everything Jewish was born” in the West Bank. King David never visited Tel Aviv, but “his first capital was Hebron” in the West Bank. Today, a Jewish settlement has been established in the heart of Hebron.

There’s an overriding concern. Israel’s security would be jeopardized without settlers in the West Bank, Dayyan insists. “We are the guarantee of Israel’s security. Israel is indefensible without Judea and Samaria.” At one point, Israel is 9 miles wide. The Ben Gurion Airport is “geographically controlled by the hills of Samaria.” Thus, he says, Hamas or al Qaeda terrorists with shoulder-fired rockets could attack the airport and “paralyze” the country.

The worst fear of the settlers is that the West Bank, were it to become a Palestinian state, might fall under the control of Hamas, which favors terrorism as a tactic and the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. When Israel withdrew from Gaza, it was “ethnically cleansed of a Jewish presence,” Dayyan says. Hamas now controls Gaza.

“It’s naïve to think something different would happen if the West Bank is separated from Israel,” he says. “It would be completely impossible to defend Israel without Judea and Samaria.” Besides, Hamas and “Islamic fundamentalist groups won’t recognize an agreement” that provides for Israel’s security.

...The new round of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is aimed at producing a “two-state solution” – that is, Israel as a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian state. Dayyan, as spokesman for the settlers, favors a one-state solution, “wholly in Israeli hands.” That’s the “only chance for security to prevail,” he says.

Petach-Tikva was founded in the year 1878 by a group of pioneers from Jerusalem,who three years earlier had founded the society "Work the soil and redeem the land" with the aim to redeem the land from its aridity, and the people from having to eat charity bread from the "Distribution" of those days. The three men to take the initiative from Jerusalem, in founding Petach-Tikva,were: Rabbi Yoel-Moshe Salomon, Rabbi David Gutmann and Yehoshua Stampfer...In 1937 Petach-Tikva received the status of a city.

Originally intending to establish a new settlement in the Achor Valley, near Jericho, the pioneers purchased land in that area. However, the Turkish Sultan cancelled the purchase and forbade them from settling there, but they retained the name Petah Tikva as a symbol of their aspirations.

Undaunted, the settlers purchased a modest area (3.40 square kilometers) from the village of Mulabbis (variants: Mlabbes, Um-Labbes), near the source of the Yarkon River. The Sultan allowed the enterprise to proceed, but because their purchase was located in what was a malarial swamp, they had to evacuate when the malaria spread, founding the town of Yehud near the Arabic village Yehudiyya about 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the south. With the financial help of Baron Edmond de Rothschild they were able to drain the swamps sufficiently to be able to move back in 1883, joined by immigrants of the First Aliyah, and later the Second Aliyah.

Thus it was that, happy and good-hearted, I reached the blinding lights and concrete blocks of the Ein Yael checkpoint. A soldier armed with a machine gun stretched out an arm and ordered me to stop. Obeying, I stopped. We stood there, face to face, a face no longer young (mine ) opposite a very young face, helmet opposite helmet, bicycle opposite concrete block.

"Where are you from?" he asked. "In what sense, where am I from?" I replied with a philosophical question. "Where do you live?" he asked. "In Jerusalem," I replied without trying to be smart again. "Well done," he said and saluted, really saluted.

He didn't know that the woman he was saluting is a serial smuggler of female human beings whom he knows as "people illegally present," a smuggler against whom a complaint is pending with the police, a smuggler who the evening before was asked on a well-regarded television program if she checks the underpants of the women she smuggles, in case they have hidden a bomb there.

And since the soldier at the checkpoint saluted me and sent me on my way, it now occurs to me to ask the many people of little insight among my Israeli compatriots: Who, then, will protect you, you who foolishly place your trust in checkpoints, who will protect you from offenders like me who do not poke around in the underpants of their Palestinian friends but bring them here to socialize with us and be guests in our cities and thus, among other goals, look for different ways to ensure us at long last a life of security and peace?

Well, Ilana, the obvious answer to your query is that we start with arresting you so that Arabs don't think they can take advantage of your incredible stupidity and next time, send into Israel someone that is more sinister than your other girlfriends.

After all, if that soldier didn't recognize you, maybe you won't recognize that future her.

PALESTINE — Brenda Richardson of Palestine hit a lucky streak Sunday that ultimately led to her winning $1 million in a scratch-off ticket.

A winning streak that started Sunday led Richardson to buy a $500,000,000 Blockbuster scratch-off ticket at JJ’s No. 211, 1901 Crockett Rd. That ticket revealed one of 40 $1 million prizes available in the game.

“I bought a ticket Sunday and won some money and cashed it in,” Richardson said. She then used her winnings to buy a $500,000,000 Blockbuster ticket.

“I won $50 on that one and bought another, and won $100 on that one and got this ticket,” she said about her million-dollar scratch-off...

Some people are lucky.

Not only do they win a lot of money but their 'Palestine' is in the United States of America.

Former President Jimmy Carter left North Korea on Friday with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, an American who was sentenced to eight years of hard labor for illegally entering the country, the Carter Center said.Mr. Gomes was granted amnesty by the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, the Carter Center said in an e-mail. Mr. Gomes, 31, and Mr. Carter boarded a plane at Pyongyang Airport.

"I got the impression that Gilad Shalit is alive and well," said Tuesday former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, following a meeting with the father of the abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier, Noam Shalit...Following their meeting, Noam Shalit said that he "didn't hear anything new about Gilad."

The two met after Carter visited the Gaza Strip earlier Tuesday, and gave Hamas leaders a letter addressed to the captive soldier from his parents. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said after his meeting with Carter that "the organization welcomes all efforts to finalize the Shalit affair."

Of course, maybe Carter is better with Asians than Arabs, or vice versa, or whatever?

First, violence is down considerably in the region...Today, the Palestinian Authority is policing its West Bank territory...Hamas...is doing the same in Gaza.

These efforts, combined with more effective Israeli security measures, have meant that the number of Israeli civilians killed in terrorist attacks has dropped from an intifada high of 452 in 2002 to 6 last year and only 2 so far this year.

Second, settlement activity has slowed significantly...The settlement moratorium, however, is due to expire on Sept. 26. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, seems unlikely to extend it...there could be a workable compromise if Mr. Netanyahu restricts building to modest growth in the settlement blocs that will most likely be absorbed into Israel in the final agreement...

Third, the public on both sides supports a two-state solution. So do a majority of Arabs...

Fourth, there isn’t a lot to negotiate..If an independent Palestinian state is to be established, the zone of agreement is clear and the necessary trade-offs are already known.

It is a problem when U.S. officials say, “We all know what the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will look like,” because they base this claim on Israeli concessions at the Camp David and Taba negotiations at the end of the Clinton administration, which never produced a signed agreement.

Everyone knows the basic outlines of a peace deal," said one of the senior officials, citing the agreement that was nearly reached at Camp David in 2000 and in subsequent negotiations.

Jonathan Kuttab, Palestinian human rights lawyer: "Everybody knows what it will take to achieve a permanent and lasting peace that addresses the basic interests of both sides

everyone knew then and knows now that the Clinton plan is the only realistic framework for peace - (Thomas Friedman)

Now that weve illustrated how unoriginal and trite Indyk is, the main point is that we really don't know what he claims we are supposed to know. After all, we all "know" that since 1937, the "sole solution" is partition. But we partitioned in 1947 and we compromised territorially in 1957 (we returned the Sinai); in 1981 (we yielded the Sinai); in 1989 (Taba yielded); 1994 (Area A); 1994 (Jordan got some territory); 2005 (the Disengagement). And do we have peace?

Some of my friends and I would respond, "well, we all know that the Arabs want all of Israel, despite what they say and sign".

And back to Point One: they are policing but every night Israel has to go in and arrest suspected terrorists as well as heroically stop suicide bombers from crossing into Israel. And Hamas is "policing"? Ha.

Point Two: if there are Arab settlements in Israel, there should be Jewish residential communities in "Palestine". And if not...

Point Three: the "public" does not support the 'two-state' solution inequivocally but with conditions and who determines the future of a country and its people on polls?

Thursday, August 26, 2010

"Feith is far from the only one who reads Jabotinsky descriptively but not proscriptively, who accepts Jabotinsky’s notion of a conflict that pits two sets of principles against each other, but cannot entertain the next step: that the day Jabotinsky had imagined of the Jewish people negotiating from a place of strength might already have arrived.

For some, the notion that the reality of the conflict is fundamentally different today, in 2010, is simply impossible to accept.

“Jabotinsky is very significant for the political reality that we have today,” said Yisrael Medad, director of information resources at Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. “Nothing has really changed in relation to the Arabs, in relation to who we are as Zionists. These things haven’t moved anywhere in the past 80 or 90 years. You can change the name of the mufti to Arafat, British to the Americans, but these paradigms have not shifted one millimeter.”

In both Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, the cooperation between the police and other state authorities, on the one hand, and the settlers, on the other hand, is not just political but also ideological. The entire police force, from the minister to the most junior policeman, refers to Sheikh Jarrah as "Shimon Hatzadik" {Shimon the righteous) - the name chosen by the settlers. When a police document mentions the "residents of the neighborhood", the reference will always be to Jews, and never to Palestinians, who are perceived as a nuisance.

Now is the time to protest against this criminal collaboration!

Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan are Palestinian neighborhoods - and their inhabitants have the full right to be protected from police brutality and oppression!

Arriving home in Israel after a semester teaching in New York, I got in a taxi at Ben-Gurion Airport and asked the cabbie to drive me to Jerusalem. "Take the main road, not Route 443," I said. Route 443 runs through the West Bank. When it was transformed from a country road to a highway in the 1980s, Palestinian land was expropriated under the legal fiction that the project's main purpose was to serve Palestinian residents of the area. Since 2002, however, the Israeli army has barred Palestinians from using it. I take 443 only when I must to cover a story. "I don't like 443 either," the cabbie said. "It's dangerous now that the Supreme Court made them let Arabs use it." He pronounced "Supreme Court" like a curse. Such antipathy is common among Israeli right-wingers, who regard the Court as a club of bleeding hearts. I prefer a calm driver, especially on a road into the mountains, so I didn't argue politics with him.

a. Did he know, if at all, that the cabbie was a "right-winger"?

b. Could not a left-winger be anitpathetic to the Court, say, if it approved Jewish residency in certain areas beyond the Green Line, or authorize the route of the Security Barrier in certain locations beyond the Green Line?

The Torah forbids us to cover ourselves with any type of garment or fabric that contains both wool and linen. This would include a fabric, which is woven with both wool and linen or a garment, which is made of different materials and contain in them wool and linen that are permanently connected, (i.e. sewn or pasted). We are forbidden to wear such a mixture.

When we speak of wool, we are only referring to wool obtained from sheep or lambs. Other materials, such as camel's hair, mohair, angora, cashmere or alpaca wool, present no shatnez problems. Similarly, linen refers only to fibers derived from the flax plant, whereas other bast fibers, such as ramie, hemp or jute, may be combined with wool.

The Torah teaches us about the Mitzvah (commandment) of shatnez in two pusukim (verses) in the torah.

"Do not wear Shatnez - wool and linen together" (Deut. 22:11)

"A Shatnez garment should not cover you" (Lev. 19:19)

These two verses prohibit a Jew from wearing and garment which contains shatnez or covering oneself with such a garment.

Shatnez is an acronym described by the sages for combed, spun and woven. This means that if any of these processes done with wool and linen together the garment would be prohibited according to the Torah. In addition the Sages decreed that any lasting combination of wool and linen be considered Shatnez.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

500 Israeli citizens, escorted by dozens of military vehicles, drove by bus deep into the West Bank on Wednesday in a provocative visit to a West Bank holy site.

Dozens of buses and military vehicles entered the West Bank in violation of the Oslo agreement and other signed accords, in the second such incident this month. On August 5th, around 300 Israelis were escorted into the same area to visit a site known as 'Joseph's Tomb'. In Nablus.

During the incursion, Israeli military forces deployed in the area implemented increased security checks on the Palestinian residents of the region, delaying some people for several hours at checkpoints in order to allow the Jewish worshipers to pass freely.

1. Responsibility over sites of religious significance in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (hereinafter - "Holy Sites") will be transferred to the Palestinian side. In Area C, this responsibility will be transferred gradually to Palestinian jurisdiction that will cover West Bank and Gaza Strip territory except for the issues that will be negotiated in the permanent status negotiations, during the further redeployment phases, to be completed within 18 months from the date of the inauguration of the Council.

1. Nun's Tomb and Caleb's Tomb in Kifel-Hares 2. The Tombs of Natan the Prophet and Gad the Seer in Halhul 3. The Naran Synagogue - Ein Duk 4. The Jewish Cemetery in Sammerat 5. The Synagogue in Gaza City

Yes, you noticed, Joseph's Tomb is not listed but, nevertheless, it is a holy site and should be protected and Jews granted right of free worship. And after Operation Defensive Shield, the IDF asserted its authority over the site due to Arab destruction of major sections of it and its burning.

For years I have been on to the efforts of anti-YESHA groups to hack away on the issue of tax-exemption.

It started when I joined Dassie Marcus and her fight against the major Jewish charities that refused to transfer funds ear-marked for YESHA in the mid-1980s and even twenty-years later. Even the JNF refused. They claimed the State Department prohibited that and we responded that that was illegal. We eventually won and even Federation funds came across the Green Line

Z STREET, a pro-Israel non-profit corporation, filed a lawsuit in federal court today charging that the IRS violated the organization’s First Amendment rights. The suit was filed after Z STREET was told by an IRS official that its application for tax-exempt status has been delayed because an IRS policy requires consideration of whether a group’s views on Israel differ from those of the current Administration.

“Not only is it patently un-American but it is also a clear violation of the First Amendment for a government agency to penalize an organization because of its political position on Israel or anything else,” said Z STREET president Lori Lowenthal Marcus, a former First Amendment lawyer. “This situation is the same as if the government denied a driver’s license to people because they were Republicans or Democrats. It goes against everything for which our country stands.”

Z STREET filed for tax-exempt status in January of this year and, despite having met all of the requirements for grant of this status, the application has been stalled. An IRS agent told Z STREET’s lawyers that the application was delayed because of a Special Israel Policy that requires greater scrutiny of organizations which have to do with Israel, in part to determine whether they espouse positions on Israel contrary to those of the current Administration.

Z STREET is a Zionist organization that proudly supports Israel’s right to refuse to negotiate with, make concessions to, or appease terrorists. Z STREET’s positions on Israel and, in particular, on the Middle East “peace process” differ significantly from those espoused by the Obama administration.

If Z STREET had tax-exempt status, its donors would be able to deduct contributions from their taxable income. The IRS's refusal to grant tax-exempt status to Z STREET has inhibited the organization‘s fundraising efforts, and therefore impeded its ability to speak and to educate the public regarding the issues that are the focus and purpose of Z STREET.

The lawsuit, Z STREET v. Shulman, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, was filed today in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Well, let's see if the court system is still independent in the US.

And I want to emphasize that actually this he case is NOT about Yesha, per se. The special scrutiny exists for any and all organizations, Jewish or non-Jewish that has anything to do with Israel, even if they don't make charitable donations across the Green Line. This development is a blanket government act of oppression against people and groups whose policies do not agree with President Obama (and probably J Street, as well).

As a friend informed me:

“US tax laws empower citizens to disagree with their administration. If people liked the way their president was allocating funds, they would just pay their taxes and not take a tax exemption. The result is that the tax exemption clause exists for the specific purpose of encouraging you to funnel your money to other causes not supported by the administration!”

Blogger Paul Caron, a professor of tax law, highlights an interesting lawsuit brought by an organization called Z Street, a pro-Israel group seeking tax-exempt status. (The name is a play on the anti-Israel group J Street, which in turn is a play on K Street, a metaphor for the lobbying business.)

Z Street's complaint alleges that the group was informed its application for tax-exempt status "has been at least delayed, and may be denied" because it opposes the Obama administration's Israel policies. The complaint calls this "the crudest form of viewpoint discrimination" and argues it is "flatly unconstitutional under the First Amendment."

Caron links to an article in the Forward, which describes the defense of the IRS's alleged position:

As the Forward reported in January, some argue that the 1983 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Bob Jones University v. United States could be interpreted to deny nonprofit status to organizations that oppose established American foreign policy. The Bob Jones decision, which found that "an institution seeking tax-exempt status must . . . not be contrary to established public policy," was written to bar tax exempt groups from participating in racial discrimination.

Legal experts were split on the question of longstanding foreign policy, such as America's opposition to Jewish settlements in the West Bank, could fall within the realm of "public policy" as described in Bob Jones. All agreed, however, that the IRS had never used Bob Jones to deny tax-exempt status to nonprofits that oppose American foreign policy.

A crucial distinction is missing here, however. The January Forward article concerned organizations that raise money to support Jewish neighborhoods in the disputed territories, which critics call "settlements." Even if there is a colorable argument that Bob Jones permits the IRS to deny such groups tax-exempt status on the ground that their activities contrary to U.S. public policy, that would not apply to Z Street, which is strictly an educational and advocacy organization.

If Z Street's factual allegations are accurate, then, its constitutional case is solid, and the IRS's activities are scandalous.

National Waffle Day (August 24) is the anniversary of the first U.S. patent for a waffle iron. Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York received his patent for a "device to bake waffles" in 1869. His early waffle iron was used in conjunction with coal stoves, consisted of a griddle and a cover and required flipping of the device to cook both sides of the waffle.

Jewish Community Council of Victoria President John Searle and ZionistCouncil of Victoria President Dr Danny Lamm have again strongly criticisedMelbourne broadsheet The Age for its ongoing anti-Israel bias over a number ofyears.

...”Despite our best efforts to present Israel’s case, there have been too many instances of anti-Israel statements to count, ranging from the blatant such as Michael Backman’s ugly smear job in 2009 to the more subtle and insidious”, Searle continued. “An example of the latter includes a recent article reprinted from The UK’s The Daily Telegraph which stated “Netanyahu will come under fierce pressure from Obama to extend a 10-month freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank”. The Age’s version made the following insertions “illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank” (The Age, 070710). Such changes make a world of difference.”

a woman was shopping in a supermarket in Toulouse. Two "adolescents" scolded her that she should not be buying food on Ramadan during the fast [whereas Muslims in Jerusalem do buy food during the day during Ramadan]. But it was a case of mistaken identity. Apparently they had thought that she was Muslim. The woman told them that she was Jewish. The article in Le Point goes on to say that her statement that she was Jewish "only redoubled the anger of her attackers." They called her "dirty Jewess" [sale Juive], hit her on the head, causing her to fall down. Worse yet, a supermarket guard wtinessed the attack and did nothing to help the woman. He explained that he respected Ramadan and was in a hurry to leave so that he could eat at sundown

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Rima in spite of heralding from a liberal Muslim family has openly taken a stand that was anti-President. Fakih She like the most Americans is against the planning of building a mosque near Ground Zero. So did her blunt and honest remark cost her Miss Universe crown?

People are now going past the body paint controversy and judging the decision of the judges in ousting Rima so early in the competition. It is true that many people have questioned Rima’s attitude towards her religion as she bared it all apart from the bikini bottoms for the photo shoot. But still for Americans and many liberal Islam believers she was some one who represented them. So did the judges make a mistake and their stand was more political one? Or the eliminating Rima was the right decision?

Bethlehem – PNN - Palestinian sources said on Tuesday that three people surfed [sic!] from Food Poisoning after consuming settlements products.

Omer Kabha, head of the National Dignity fund, which is behind the settlements boycott campaign, announced that the Food Poisoning cases were reported after eating out of date canned meat bought from Rami Lavi stores.

...Rami Lavi stores, known for selling settlements products [not really], opened shops in West Bank areas that are still under the control of the Israeli military and Palestinians can reach.

...Rhetoric about a "two-state solution" is de rigueur. It also is delusional, given two recent, searing experiences.

The only place for a Palestinian state is the West Bank, which Israel has occupied -- legally under international law -- since repelling the 1967 aggression launched from there. The West Bank remains an unallocated portion of the Palestine Mandate, the disposition of which is to be settled by negotiations...

...now Israel has on its western border, 44 miles from Tel Aviv, an entity dedicated to Israel's destruction, collaborative with Iran and possessing a huge arsenal of rockets.

...Israel's withdrawals include the one that strengthened the Iranian client on Israel's northern border, in southern Lebanon....

...Netanyahu, who is not the most conservative member of the coalition government he heads, endorses a two-state solution but says that any West Bank Palestinian state must be demilitarized and prevented from making agreements with the likes of Hezbollah and Iran...

...According to newly released White House visitors logs, J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, and vice president of policy and strategy, Hadar Susskind, came to the White House to meet with officials in the White House Office of Public Engagement, headed by Obama’s close friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett.

On March 11, and then again on March 12, the logs show Ben-Ami set a meeting for March 15 in the Old Executive Office Building with Danielle Borrin, who served on the vice president’s staff and in Jarrett’s office. On March 17, another meeting was set in the West Wing, the White House’s inner sanctum, for the next day with Tina Tchen, Jarrett’s principle deputy and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

On March 15, the day it met with Borrin, J Street issued a statement on the “escalation of U.S.-Israel tensions” warning that Israel’s “provocative actions undermine the peace process” and weaken the American attempts “to build a broad international coalition to address the Iranian nuclear program.” Parroting Emanuel’s strategy for crisis management, the J Street memo declared: “Bold American leadership is needed now to turn this crisis into a real opportunity to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

The memo, in effect, called for an imposed American solution: “We urge the United States to take this opportunity to suggest parameters to the parties for resuming negotiations — basing borders on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps, with the Palestinian state demilitarized and on territory equivalent to 100% of the area encompassed by the pre-1967 Armistice lines.”

On March 16, J Street sent out an action alert to its members, warning: “Some hawkish pro-Israel activists are seizing the opportunity to attack the Obama Administration over Israel, urging the Administration to slow down and back off. The pro-Israel, pro-peace movement is stepping up strong … urging the Administration to turn this crisis into an opportunity for progress on two states.”

Four days after meeting with Tchen, J Street published an advertisement in the New York Times to push for White House activism: “It’s time for the Obama administration to seize the opportunity for bold leadership — putting concrete plans for a two-state solution on the table with the sustained commitment of the United States behind them. It’s time for the Palestinians to end incitement to violence. It’s time for Israel to stop allowing extremist settlers and their sympathizers to endanger not only the friendship of the United States, but also the very future of Israel.”

I believe the March 15 Roger Cohen column in the Times likely also came as a result of White House encouragement. A long-time Axelrod acquaintance confessed to me last year: “I think I made a mistake about a year ago in introducing Roger Cohen to Axelrod electronically. Axe never writes me back, and Cohen will never tell, but, I think Cohen is floating the Administration policies ever since then.”

On March 12, J Street founder Daniel Levy published in the Guardian a self-serving article about: “[The Jewish diaspora’s determination] to reclaim a more moderate and progressive vision of what it means to be pro-Israel and to apply Jewish ethics and Jewish values, that helped guide civil rights struggles in the past, to contemporary Israeli reality. Such efforts are gaining ground — notably the emergence of J Street in America.”

Levy — a member of the JournoList — wrote the first of a slew of critical pieces that week by J Street advocates and JournoList members, including Time’s Joe Klein, Andrew Sullivan, Spencer Ackerman, and Eric Alterman.

Using a football term, J Street promotes itself as “Obama’s blocking back.” The attempt by the White House and J Street in March 2010 to run over Israel after the Ramat Shlomo housing fumble was stopped well before the goal line. On March 27, three-quarters of the House of Representatives — some 337 members — sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing solid support for Israel and voicing the expectation that differences between Jerusalem and Washington will be smoothed over quickly and in private.

A week later, the Senate followed with its letter of support signed by 76 members...

Shiloh Baniaga homered and allowed three hits to lead Waipahu, Hawaii, over Toms River, N.J., 3-1, at the Little League World Series. Ty DeSa added a solo homer in the fifth as New Jersey was ousted from the double-elimination tournament. One of the shortest players on the field at 5 feet 2 inches, the 12-year-old Baniaga mixed his fastball and off-speed pitches to keep Toms River off balance.

It's a bit to hilly out here in Shiloh but nevertheless, we do have baseball equioment brought from the old country.

As I wrote there, I couldn't get any information more than the Arab announcement. No confirmation. Have you seen any evidence of their tale? We have a name, Abdelhameed Muhsen, but I don't have his phone number.

But I was at Achiyah this morning. And do you know what I saw? I saw lots of Jewish land burnt. Saplings destroyed. In between Achiyah and Esh Kodesh.

The photographic evidence:

a) looking north-east from Achiyah, along the ridge is Jaloud. There's the last Jewish house (at present) in the lower-left corner and the Arab village a few hundred meters on. And in the lower right-hand corner, already you can see the remnants of the third (!) fire in the past 8 days set by Arabs.

b) the burned area there at the bottom of the slope:

c) a close-up of the charred remnants:

d) to the east, the extent of the damage:

e) to the north-east and on the ridge is Kuzra, an Arab village, and center below, more damaged area:

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has threatened to pull out of the planned direct talks with Israel unless it halts illegal settlement construction in the West Bank.

“Settlements and peace are two parallels that don't meet,” acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas urged the Middle East Peace Quartet on Sunday, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“If Israel continues with the settlement construction, we will withdraw from the talks,” read a letter delivered to the quartet by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

...Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already re-assured his cabinet that the moratorium will not be renewed, warning that extending the freeze would risk the future of his right-wing coalition cabinet.

The Palestinian Authority is basing its hopes on the Mideast Quartet statement, issued Friday, rather than anything said by American officials, Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmad said Sunday.

...Al-Ahmad, a Fatah Central Committee member, says that if the US does not adhere to the Quartet statement, "Obama’s invitation will not be more than a dinner party. There will not be real negotiations; they might not even be launched."

While Clinton insists that the talks should renew "without preconditions," the Quartet reaffirmed its commitment to previous statements including one on 19 March which called on both sides to adhere to the Road Map and specifically demanded that Israel "freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth."

Abbas had insisted that talks would not resume without an end to settlement construction in occupied Palestinian territory, a request Netanyahu refused as a "precondition."

About Me

American born, my wife and I moved to Israel in 1970. We have lived at Shiloh together with our family since 1981. I was in the Betar youth movement in the US and UK. I have worked as a political aide to Members of Knesset and a Minister during 1981-1994, lectured at the Academy for National Studies 1977-1994, was director of Israel's Media Watch 1995-2000 and currently, I work at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. I was a guest media columnist on media affairs for The Jerusalem Post, op-ed contributor to various journals and for six years had a weekly media show on Arutz 7 radio. I serve as an unofficial spokesperson for the Jewish Communities in Judea & Samaria.